Musikmesse Sneak Preview – The Physis Piano K4

Musikmesse 2014: This video, via Robert Karasek, is a first look at the new Physis Piano K4 control keyboard.

Here are the details:

PHYSIS PIANO K4 – K5

The K4 features 88-note, (76 for K5), Weighted hammer-action keyboard. A complete set of 27 Full Assignable real time Controllers, 256 indipendent Midi Channels on 8 zones, 4 USB host ports, tons of programable scenes, will be able to allow a complete control over music softwares or the most complex MIDI enviroment.

The instrument is expandable with Physis Piano Physical Modeling Piano Board making this keyboard really interesting choise either for stage and studio.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

KEYBOARDS

  • 88 Hammer-Action Weighted keys with Aftertouch (K4)
  • 76 Hammer-Action Light Weighted keys with Aftertouch (K5)

CONNECTIONS

  • 8 x Indipendent Midi Outputs
  • 2 x Indipendent Midi Inputs
  • 4 x Host USB Ports
  • 1 x Device USB Port ( Windows XP ® / Windows 7 ® and Mac OS X ® compatible )
  • 2 x Audio Outputs ( L/R unbalanced 1/4″ jack )
  • 1 x Headphones Output ( stereo 1/4″ jack )

EXPANSION
– Sound Expandable with Physis Piano Engine

CONTROLS

  • 1 x Audio Volume Slider
  • 8 x lighted Zone Buttons
  • 4 x lighted Bank Buttons of 27 full-assignable Controls
  • 9 x full-360° Rotary Controls ( with 4 Banks for 36 pots in total )
  • 9 x long-throw 45mm Slider Controls ( with 4 Banks for 36 pots in total )
  • 9 x lighted Button Controls ( with 4 Banks for 36 switches in total )
  • 3 x 180° Wheels ( 1 Wheel with 90° centered position )
  • 8 x full-assignable potentiometric Pedal Inputs
  • Fast entry Alpha-Numeric Keypad
  • 5 x dedicated Sequencer Remote Buttons for Midi Machine Control Commands
  • 1 x dedicated Transpose Button for fast changes of key
  • 4.3″ Multicolor Graphic LCD Display (480*272 dots)

MEMORY

  • 128 full-programmable Performances
  • 4 Indipendent Scenes for each Performance
  • 8 Midi Zones + 4 Controller Banks for each Scene
  • Selectable/Editable Velocity Curves + Velocity Ranges and Key Ranges for each Zone

Pricing and availability for the Physis Piano K4/K5 are to come.

10 thoughts on “Musikmesse Sneak Preview – The Physis Piano K4

  1. nice feature set, but im just bored of controllers with the same generic panel layout with a handful of pots and sliders. sure, you got 4x matrixing but how often will you find yourself going “now where did i put that pulse width control… page 2 dial 3 or page 4 dial 9?”

  2. This looks almost identical to the Kurzweil PC3K8, physically, excepting the actual SYNTH bit. Still glad to see new weighted-key controllers.

  3. You always have to remember that no matter how remarkable sounding and powerful looking the controls, it still takes hours and hours of preparation and set-up and alignment for a simple performance like this. The keyboard is always really a minor kind of thing. If it really feels good, and has a really easy and up front programming system that doesn’t waste your time, great. There’s always if.

  4. From the manufacturer’s site, it looks like this will likely cost over 3 grand. I’m not saying it isn’t a great controller… I just wish someone could make something like this for less money.

    I LOVE a great feeling 88 note controller, especially if it has aftertouch and more than 2 midi outs. It’s just that nowadays, you can buy a modern workstation for the same price. I highly doubt that the extra DIN i/o and better keybed is 2000 dollars value added.

    Especially in this modern age where most controllers and synths have 2 octave boards or minikeys, I’m hoping someone swoops in to make a great, non-computer centric 88 note controller with pro features under $1500. Whoever does it would be answering a ton of musicians’ prayers and make lots of money.

    1. I think the bad-keyboard-build horse has been beaten to death and then some. Its just an ugly fact of the world economy that Cheap has become king. You can buy stratospheric pro devices like this or some clattering populist plastic shite, but nothing much in-between. I miss Pratt-Read, who gave up keyboard-building and focused on screwdrivers, literally. Their base mechanisms were generally fluid to play. Fatar CAN make some of the best currently available, but you never know which it’ll be until you play the thing for yourself. The DSI PolyEvolver has one of their better offerings, yet many of their budget items feel like Nintendo controllers. Ugh. Gridsleep is right on the mark about the setup and housekeeping required. I can easily see a mad pro or seriously committed player loving this as a power-user’s dream, but its a really snazzy flagship in a bay full of skiffs.

  5. A good demo of a guy who can play very well…. but as far as controllers are concerned, this just looks like another one… At least companies like Novation for ex. offer Automap which makes mapping much easier (ok, their largest keyboards only have 5 octaves).

  6. I prefer the independent MIDI outs on my PC3K8 … those new fangled “indipendent” outs are too weird an idea for me … 😉

    Seriously, though. Nice to see a new controller on the market. Would be awesome if it had a strip sensor for poly-AT .. but I think the ship has sailed on that happening anytime soon with a good keyboard.

  7. Hi @all!

    I’m the guy who played in this video.

    The big plus of the K4 is: 8 Midi Outputs, 2 Midi Inputs, 5 USB, 8 pedals, colour display, 27 controllers x 4 (that means you can save 27 controller setups in 4 different banks).
    Fatar key bed with aftertouch… and it weighs only about 18kg.

    Esp. for performing musicians a really cool piece of gear 🙂

    If you have any questions – hit me up.
    I did the demos at MUSIKMESSE Frankfurt… demos in France… Germany…

    Other than that, there’s a FB group:
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/1490471024505624/

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